For four years, Frederick Choate had a thought floating around his head: What should he do after high school? Known as Freddie, the high school senior realized how difficult it can be to figure out which path to take after high school. 

“My junior year, I took robotics,” Choate said. “Robotics was an amazing experience and we went all the way to Worlds in Detroit at the Cobo Center.” 

Worlds, an event that includes different countries from all over the world, like the United States, Canada, Israel, Chile, and Turkey, was hosted locally. The 2019 FIRST robotics Worlds hosted 408 teams in Detroit at the Cobo Center.

“It was a very valuable experience for me,” Choate said. “It was really cool to be able to see all of the different robot designs and cool innovation.”

Not really knowing whether or not college was the next step for him, Choate decided to visit someone who could help him make the next move, guidance counselor Leslie Cummings. 

Teaming with senior English teacher Rita Stricklin, Cummings held after school Monday sessions for seniors like Choate. 

“Mrs. Cummings is the reason that I went to Kettering,” Choate said. “She came up to me and told me she thought I’d be interested in this school, and that’s what actually got me into applying to Kettering University.”

The after school sessions help students with toiling through the process of getting into a college.  Stricklin and Cummings work together to figure out the best possible solutions to any uprising questions and submissions. After going to the after school meeting, Choate realized there is no reason to be scared to go to college, even if one isn’t sure what to go for as a career.

Considering the many decisions and sacrifices for college, senior Maria Risner thinks a comfortable campus takes priority.

“One of the most important things is finding a campus that will fit my personality,” she said. 

After visiting the Northern Michigan University and experiencing all of the different reactions on campus, she knew that that college was the right one.

“If the opportunity is there, people should definitely visit the college they want to go to,” Risner said. “It opens up a lot of emotions and knowledge of whether or not they will feel at home there.”

Knowing these decisions are complicated, Stricklin and Cummings introduced the after school sessions.

“The after school idea came about when we found out that we weren’t going to have a college adviser,” Stricklin said. “I talked to Mrs. Cummings and was, like, let’s tackle this together.” 

They agree that the number one step is to request the transcripts on Parchment, a website that handles the high school transcripts.

“When a student applies to college, they have to send their transcripts,” Cummings said. “In order to do that, they have to get on Parchment and request that their transcripts be sent to that college, then I release it to the school.”